HN97
This article is part of the Undercover Research Portal at Powerbase - investigating corporate and police spying on activists
HN92 is the cipher given to a former undercover officer with the Special Demonstration Squad who was deployed in the 1980s to infiltrate one group and reported on many others.[1]
In the Undercover Policing Inquiry
- 11 May 2018: directed that applications for HN91 were to be filed by 31 May 2018.[2]
- 21 June 2018: Application over real and cover name made which the Chair of the Inquiry, John Mitting, is minded to grant.[3] Open material to be published in due course to allowing responses to Mitting's position.[4] In his 'Minded To' note, Mitting wrote:[1]
- HN97 is in his 60s. His deployment is of significant interest to the Inquiry and must be explored in detail to permit the terms of reference to be fulfilled. The group into which he was deployed posed no risk to public order or to him personally. Despite that, there would be a real risk, which cannot be precisely quantified, from sources which cannot now be identified, to his safety if his real or cover name were to be published and/or if certain details
of his deployment were to be made public. Balancing the public interest in providing as much public information as possible about it against the need to protect his own safety and/or the public interest in ensuring that his real identity is not disclosed when evidence about his deployment is received will be a delicate and difficult task, which must be addressed soon.
- The restriction orders which I am minded to make are necessary to avoid a risk of harm to HN97 and to avoid impairing the effectiveness of the Inquiry.... They are also necessary to avoid an unjustified risk of interference in
the right of HN97 to respect for an aspect of his private life - physical integrity - and of his and his family's right to respect for private and family life...
- A closed note accompanies and expands upon these reasons.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sir John Mitting, Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstration Squad - 'Minded To' Note 11, Undercover Policing Inquiry, 21 June 2018.
- ↑ Sir John Mitting, Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstrations Squad: Directions, Undercover Policing Inquiry, 11 May 2018.
- ↑ Press notice - 'Minded to' decisions relating to anonymity applications: Special Demonstration Squad, Undercover Policing Inquiry, 21 June 2018.
- ↑ Counsel to the Inquiry's Explanatory Note to accompany the Chairman's 'Minded To' Note 9 and Ruling 8 in respect of applications for restrictions over the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and Special Demonstration Squad: Update as at 21 June 2018, Undercover Policing Inquiry, 21 June 2018.
